Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-17
TRAVELS In GREENLAND.
Some of the Interesting Features o
this Far North Land.

tiiS II al
In the September number of the Bulle-
tin of the American Geographical Society,
r. Z. Peary gives detailed account Of
his journey, in the summer and autumn of
last year, into the interior of Greenland
He entered in the neighborhood of Disco
Island, considerably further north than
the starting point chosen by NordenskIold
for his expedition. Mr.. Pearys expert
ences were somewhat similar to those
of Nordenskjold. His course through
ont the journey was due east. He only
reached 100 miles from the edge of the
ice-blink or interior ice, his highest eleva-
ton being 1926 feet Mr. Peary sums up
his observations of the character of the
interior ice. The coast-line shows great
| diversity of features, dependent upon the
altitude, tie season, and the elevation and
configuration of the adjacent mountains.
Whenever the ice projects down a valley
in long tongue or stream, the edges
contract and shrink away from the warmer
rocks on each side, leaving deep canon
between, usually occupied by a glacier
and the upper surface, disintegrated by
the reflected heat from the mountains
| above, and shattered by the daily change
of temperature more perhaps than by the
| forward flow, present chaotic labyrinth
| of crevasses, gullies and rugged pinnacles,
| increasing in magnitude in direct proper
ton to the length of the tongue and its APP
proach to the sea-level As TO the fea-
lures of the interior beyond the coast-line,
the surface of the =" ice-blink" near the
margin is a succession of rounded hum
mocks, steepest and highest on their
lo,, IL,
cipitous. Further in, these hum
mocks merge into long, fiat swells,
which in turn decrease in height to-
wards the interior, until at last a fiat,
gently rising plain is reached, which doubt
less becomes ultimately level In passing
from the margin of the ice blink to the
remote interior, from one to five distinct
zones may be noted, the number and width
varying with the season, the latitude and
| the elevation. In winter the entire surface
is undoubtedly covered with deep, I'M
broken layer of fine dry snow. Late in the
spring the warmth of the sun at midday
softens the surface of the snow along the
land borders of the ice, ard this freezes at
night, forming a light crust Gradually
this crust extends up the interior, and,
with the advance of the season the snow
along the border of the ice-blink" be-
comes saturated with water. A little later
the zone of slush follows the zone of crust
into the interior, the snow along the Dor
der of the ice-blink melts entirely, form
ing pools in the depressions, and streams
which cut deep gullies in the ice; water
cavities form; old crevasses open, and new
ones appear. This zone rapidly widens,
and extends into the interior in the
footsteps of the others, and behind
it the immediate border of the ice
gets ragged. and soiled ; pebbles, powders,
and moraines crop out Of its melting sur
face, and by the end OF the Arctic summer
it is disintegrated and shattered by the
heat, and eroded by the streams into i'm
passable roughness. Mr.. Peary gives some
useful hints as to the best modes of travel
over the ice, which, if followed, he be-
lieves would without any difficulty take
the explorer to the east coast.-Natlue.